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Abstract:

A miniature SMD-HPLED replaceable lamp (10) comprising a main body (1)
which can be alternatively made of ceramic or metallic material, an
electrical connector (20) housed in said main body (1) and a PCB (3a)
embedding an HPLED lighting source. The connector (20) is suitably
designed both for assuring an electrical continuity between PCB (3a) and
an external power supply and locking it in a slot (2) formed on said main
body (1).

Claims:

1. A miniature SMD-HPLED replaceable lamp comprising (i) a main body
provided with a slot and a groove formed under said slot, (ii) a
SMD-HPLED housed into said slot and provided with contacts, (iii) an
insulating member housed in said groove, (iv) a pair of metallic band
conductors, each of them placed on said insulating member a folded back
on itself at a first end, said first end elastically loaded by below
contact, (v) a pair of electrical terminals, each terminal passing
through a hole formed at a second end opposite to said first end and a
hole of a pair provided on said insulating member.

2. The miniature SMD-HPLED replaceable lamp according to claim 1 in which
said groove is facing an upper surface of said main body.

3. The miniature SMD-HPLED replaceable lamp according to claim 1 in which
said groove is facing a lower surface of said main body, the groove being
in communication with said slot by a pair of holes.

4. The miniature SMD-HPLED replaceable lamp according to claim 1 in which
said main body is obtained by a ceramic moulding process.

5. The miniature SMD-HPLED replaceable lamp according to claim 1 in which
said main body is made of metallic material, preferably aluminium.

6. The miniature SMD-HPLED replaceable lamp according to claim 1 in which
said insulating member is formed by a ceramic moulding process.

7. The miniature SMD-HPLED replaceable lamp according to claim 1 in which
said metallic band conductors have a C-shaped profile at said first end.

8. The miniature SMD-HPLED replaceable lamp according to claim 1 also
comprising a lens preferably supported by a ring.

9. The miniature SMD-HPLED replaceable lamp according to claim 8 in which
said ring is coupled to said main body by a snap-fit engagement.

Description:

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to a LED (Light Emitting Diode) lamp
that is a lamp having a LED as lighting source, in particular said
lighting source is designed for mounting on an PCB (Printed Circuit
Board), said PCB being replaceable by user.

[0002] As above the lighting source of the LED lamp according to the
present invention is a lighting device having a High Power
LED--hereinafter HPLED--mounted by manufacturing process, and therefore
fixedly, on a PCB provided with every electronic component and all the
electric connections to the HPLED, such that it only needs connection of
the PCB to an external power supply in order to be operated. This is a
conventional manufacturing process adopted for many other electronic
device which are commonly referred as surface-mount device or SMD.

[0003] Prior art replaceable SMD-LED lamps provide, similarly to solution
proposed by the present invention, opportunity to replace the SMD-LED
lighting source through simple extraction of the actual SMD-LED from a
slideable slot and further insertion of a new SMD-LED within said slot.
However no miniature SMD-HPLED replaceable lamp has been so far proposed
or known from state of the art: the constructional solution provided by
the lamp according to the present invention, conversely, allows to obtain
a lamp having a HPLED of fairly small size, that is a miniature HPLED
lamp, by reducing to the minimum dimensions of electrical connectors
formed on said lamp and necessary for power supplying the lighting
source, such connectors being used also for locking the SMD-HPLED on the
slot provided therefor. Moreover, the present invention by means of the
constructional solution disclosed in the following allows for having all
the lighting beam generated by the source at disposal, since the
SMD-HPLED is housed flush to an external surface of said lamp. Finally,
the same lamp is used as heat sink associated to the SMD-HPLED source, as
more clearly disclosed by the following detailed description of preferred
embodiments of the miniature SMD-HPLED lamp according to the present
invention, the description being taken in conjunction with the annexed
drawings in which like reference numerals indicate similar or identical
elements. In particular:

[0004]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the miniature replaceable SMD-HPLED
lamp according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0005]FIG. 2 is a second perspective view of the embodiment in FIG. 1;

[0006] FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an electric component of the
embodiment in FIG. 1; and

[0007]FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the miniature replaceable
SMD-HPLED lamp according to an alternative embodiment of the present
invention.

[0008] The embodiments disclosed in the following can be alternatively
adopted mainly on the basis of the material desired for the lamp.
Specifically two different materials can be selected: a ceramic material
or a metallic material, in particular aluminium. A ceramic material is
generally preferred because of its better heat dissipating properties and
electrical insulation characteristics which eliminate all risks related
to short circuits; on the other hand the ceramic moulding process is not
able to grant the surface finish required for all the applications of
present invention. Therefore, if a more accurate assembling of lamp parts
and components is desired, a metallic material can be adopted and
machined so as to obtain an improved manufacturing quality.

[0009] With reference now to FIGS. 1 and 2, a miniature replaceable
SMD-HPLED lamp 10 is constituted by a ceramic main body 1, a SMD-HPLED 3
and a electric connector 20. The ceramic main body 1 is preferably
cylindrically moulded and provided with an upper slot 2 formed thereon.
Said upper slot 2, in turn, has an approximatively rectangular shape and
a depth equal to thickness of a PCB 3a on which the HPLED and its pair of
power supply contacts 3b are embedded. The upper slot 2 is therefore
suitably dimensioned for housing the SMD-HPLED 3, which once inserted
into the slot 2 has the PCB 3a flush to the upper surface la of the
ceramic main body 1. The upper slot 2 is also provided with a pair of
through-holes 2a and 2b each of them placed midway on one longest side of
the same slot 2. As shown in FIG. 2, on the lower surface 1b of the main
body 1 a substantially rectangular groove 4 is formed having its longest
sides displaced along a direction normal to longest side of the slot 2
and its shortest sides under said through-holes 2a and 2b of the slot 2:
according to this configuration the groove 4 results in communication
with each through-holes 2a and 2b.

[0010] FIG. 3 shows an electric component or connector 20 designed to be
inserted and housed into the above disclosed rectangular groove 4:
connector 20 comprises an electrical insulating member 5 having a shape
conjugated to shape of the groove 4; moreover in the middle portion of
said insulating member 5 a pair of through-holes 5a is provided. A pair
of guides 5b is then formed over the insulating member 5, each guide 5b
placed out of the portion occupied by said pair of through-holes 5a. A
conductor 6 in the form of a metal band provided, at one end thereof,
with a through hole 6a is housed in each guide 5b such that said
through-hole 6a is coaxial to said through-hole 5a. The conductor 6 is
plastically deformed and folded back on itself such that the profile of
the metal band results C-shaped; therefore the other end 6b of the
conductor 6 will be suspended by the vertical side of the C-shaped
profile. An electric terminal 7 in the form of a pin is inserted into the
through-holes 6a of each band 6 and into each through-hole 5a of the
insulating member 5. In such manner the electrical continuity is achieved
from tip 7a of each terminal 7 to the end 6b of each metal band conductor
6. A head 7b, at the end opposite to tip 7a, is formed on each terminal 7
such that any vertical movement of the same terminal 7 is avoided;
moreover the stem of said terminal 7, i.e. the portion under said head 7b
being in contact with through-hole 6a, is provided with an increased
diameter 7c which, during assembling, deforms diameter of the
through-hole 6a and allows an improved coupling thereof. The connector 20
can therefore be inserted into the groove 4 with the conductor ends 6b
being passed through said pair of through-holes 2a and 2b. The vertical
sides of the metal band C-shaped profile consequently have to be
dimensioned such that, at insertion of the SMD-HPLED 3, the connector
ends 6b are adequately pressed on the power supply contacts 3b of the PCB
3a. In order to achieve this results, each connector end 6b is slightly
downwardly further deformed and therefore they result elastically loaded
by each power supply contact 3b; moreover, each connector 6b end has a
downwardly directed concavity for further assuring a reliable connection
with the below contact 3b. In such terms the connector 20 serves not only
for power supplying the SMD-HPLED 3 but also for locking it into the slot
2. Finally, distance between each through-holes 5a of the pair is
advantageously selected in order to have a distance between axes of the
terminals 7 complying with electrical connection standards set for G4,
G5.3, GX5.3, G6.35 or even GY6.35.

[0011] In FIG. 4 an alternative embodiment of the present invention is
shown: the lamp 10 is constituted by an aluminium main body 1 still
having a preferably cylindrical shape: on said cylindrical body a slot 2
is formed with sizes adapted to house a SMD-HPLED 3, namely an
approximatively rectangular slot resulting from a face milling of the
upper surface 1a down to a depth equal to thickness of the PCB 3a and for
a width smaller than diameter of said aluminium main body 1. Along a
direction normal to the longest side of said slot 2, an approximatively
rectangular groove 4 having the longitudinal side greater than width of
the slot 2 and provided, at its base surface, with a pair of
through-holes 4a is also milled. Said groove 4 and said through-holes 4a
are designed so as to house the previously disclosed connector 20, the
distance between axes of said through-holes 4a being adapted for
coaxially receive said terminals 7.

[0012] All the disclosed embodiments are provided with a pair of
protrusions 1d formed on the ceramic or metallic main body 1. Said
protrusion 1d are arranged so as to be coupled by a snap-fit engagement
with a ring 8 which, in turn, supports a lens 9, also shown in the FIG.
4.